This week is National Protect Your Identity Week, sponsored by the Better Business Bureau and National Foundation for Credit Counseling. Identity theft prevention and resolution is something we live with every day here at Europ Assistance USA while protecting and assisting some of the 10 million Americans victimized each year. We provide ongoing protection to our customers and help them straighten out any damages that occur if they do fall prey to one of the fastest growing crimes around.
All this week, we’ve been highlighting a different kind of identity theft situation — how it happened and what was at risk, as well as how we were able to help alleviate some of the pain and protect the customer moving forward.
Today, we’re highlighting a story about a customer who became a victim of identity theft by a family member which is not uncommon. According to one study, more than a quarter of identity theft victims who knew the source of the crime knew the perpetrator. This is a cautionary tale to be vigilant about personal information and careful about who is allowed access to one’s personal information.
A customer called our 24/7 assistance center after discovering multiple fraudulent accounts open in his name. Months earlier, he discovered one fraudulent account and immediately placed a 90-day fraud alert on his credit report, but without contacting EA USA. Once the 90-day alert expired, he discovered additional accounts and contacted us for assistance with resolving the identity fraud.
An investigation by one of our ID Theft Resolution Specialists revealed that these fraudulent accounts were opened by the customer’s brother, whose middle name was the same as the member’s first name. After ensuring that the two credit reports had not been accidentally combined or mixed up, our Resolution Specialist helped the customer file a police report against his brother, the first step in disputing these types of charges. Once the report was filed, we placed a long-term alert on the customer’s credit report and disputed the fraudulent accounts with affected creditors.
Given the extent of the fraud, our team recommended that the customer access his credit report monthly to ensure no new accounts were opened in the interim before the long-term alert had been placed. Additionally he was provided a copy of his credit report to review for potential additional fraud.
After several months of working with the creditors to dispute the accounts, the customer’s credit report was corrected and fraud was no longer present. Our customer’s brother was subsequently arrested and incarcerated for identity theft and additional crimes.
This is just one of many common ways people fall prey to identity theft, and how EA USA can help them if they do. Tomorrow, we’ll share another customer incident of ID theft.
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